Yaakov Harari, a 72-year-old Israeli-Argentinian who was imprisoned by the Venezuelan regime for 496 days due to claims he was a mercenary, landed in Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon, a day after being released as part of a gesture of goodwill to President Donald Trump.
Harari “was held for over a year by the Maduro regime along with dozens of other Western hostages,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said following his arrival.
Netanyahu called Harari and his family shortly after he touched down at Ben-Gurion International Airport, the Prime Minister’s Office stated.
His daughters were said to have expressed “deep appreciation to the State of Israel, the prime minister, the Jewish community in Caracas, and all of the state’s envoys for the unceasing efforts to release their father from prison and bring him home,” per the PMO statement.
Netanyahu “congratulated the Harari family and wished Yaakov and his loved ones health, a swift recovery and a return to a regular routine following the nightmare they endured,” according to his office.
The premier expressed his appreciation to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and Israel’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons, IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, for their work.
Netanyahu also thanked the Trump administration and the German, Austrian and Italian governments “for the assistance they provided to Israel during the process of returning Harari to Israel,” per the PMO.
In a separate statement, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he spoke with the former captive “immediately upon his return home to Israel.”
“Harari had been held in prison in Venezuela for over a year without any justification, under extremely harsh and life-threatening conditions,” he stated, adding that Harari had been released following an Israeli and international effort, in which Herzog himself had participated.
“Yaakov, After a prolonged period outside Israel and separation from your family, after terrible suffering, thank God you have returned home. On behalf of the State of Israel, I welcome you on your return,” he told the ex-captive. “We stand by you and your family and will assist you throughout the process of rehabilitation and return to normal life.”
Harari was detained on Oct. 10, 2024, after crossing into Venezuela from Colombia for work, and was later imprisoned at the notorious El Rodeo prison as Venezuelan officials claimed he was a “foreign mercenary.”
Harari told the Hebrew Ynet news outlet on Tuesday that he was held in extremely harsh conditions alongside dozens of Venezuelan inmates and foreigners, with no legal process and limited medical care.
“I believed all along that I would come home,” he said in the interview, adding: “I knew my daughters were working for my release and that the State [of Israel] would not forget me.”
“I have no connection to security matters,” Harari told the outlet. “I’m a 72‑year‑old man with health issues who takes medication. I’m not a mercenary, just a simple businessman.”
Harari also faced antisemitism in custody, including guards accusing him of being from a “country of child killers” and jeering that Iran had downed five Israeli planes, “which of course never happened,” Moshe Shitrit, deputy mayor of Beersheva, Harari’s hometown, told Ynet.
Caracas said the Israeli citizen was freed on Monday together with 115 other prisoners in an effort to placate Trump following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, who was arrested along with his wife and brought to New York to stand trial by American forces on Jan. 3.
Trump said on Friday that he cancelled a second wave of airstrikes on Venezuela because Caracas was cooperating with his administration, including on the prisoner release.
“We’re working with the Venezuelan people and representatives and it’s amazing,” the president told an audience at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday.
